1. LSU Les Miles is not an idiot. It was a show, a charade. The man's a genius. For now, anyway.
2. Florida The Gators are dead; long live the Gators. Why is everyone forgetting that they can win out and still clinch the East?
3. South Carolina To be the team, you have to beat the team. They don't get a chance to do that for more than a month.
4. Tennessee It's alive! It's alive! Or is it just that Georgia's defense is dead?
5. Auburn Old old CW: Only team that can challenge LSU in the West. New old CW: Sucks mightily. New CW: Only team that can challenge LSU in the West.
6. Kentucky I don't see implosions as flukes; I see them as insights into a team. The insights provided Thursday weren't pretty.
7. Georgia How do Georgia and Tennessee play each other and we end up knowing less about both of them?
8. Alabama Sorry, guys; the first year of Nick Saban is going to be a lot like the last year of Mike Shula. But at least Saban seems to have you headed in the right direction.
9. Arkansas Question coming into the season: Could they overcome the off-field drama? Question, answered -- and it's an emphatic "no."
10. Mississippi State Might actually be better than the Hogs. Might actually be a bowl team.
11. Vanderbilt Thank goodness for Mississippi.
12. Mississippi Speaking of ... what can you say anymore? They're just bad.